21 October 2009

This morning I am helping run a "Discover your inner Geek" session for the KM Round Table in Melbourne.

As such I thought I would list here some of my favourite Enterprise 2.0 blogs and sites. Enjoy! It is by no means exhaustive (I have hundreds listed and I feel bad leaving so many great ones out) but this should get you started on your E2.0 journey.

Firstly the more official ones. Prof Andrew McAfee is the gentleman who came up with the concept of Enterprise 2.0 and his blog frequently discusses the definition of Enterprise 2.0, and when it is (and isn't) applicable for use.

Secondly is probably the home of natural complexity both in theory and practice. David Snowden's work on Sensemaking has helped me form an understanding of the changes in management theory and how these possibly disruptive ideas can be used to make the most of the new global business environment without simply trusting in new tools or techniques because they worked in another context. His blog is called Cognitive Edge and the site also includes podcasts to help get you up to speed as you drive/train home each night. His recent discussion about the difference between Go and Chess is a favourite.

One of the people who takes Andrew McAfee's ideas and expands on them is CNet author Dion Hinchcliffe. Great big picture guy. You will find his work at various places like the CNet site, his main blog is here and his Web2.0 blog is here. All are worth keeping a tab on every now and then.

One of the guys in this space who thinks a lot about how all this interacts with the culture of your organisation, and more importantly how you should see your organisations culture, is Stephen Billings. Check him out here.

James Dellow from Headshift is somebody with broad experience, but especially in the Intranet and Government sides of enterprise social computing. Known as Chieftech, I highly recommend his blog here.

From Canberra, Stephen Collins is more at the marketing end of Web2.0, but his thinking is deep and clear and he is a great communicator. I enjoy his blog as a way to learn how to inform business people about E2.0 and this article is one of my favourites (partially because it touches on the impact of culture & implementation and some of my thoughts on it).

Wondering about how to make a business case for Enterprise 2.0 in your organisation? Check out this nice report by Louise Ross of the CIMA.

Finally, I encourage you to start building your network of peers. Once great way is on twitter and this page has a great list of E2.0 tweeters around the world. This is a Google Docs spreadsheet and you can add your own details here so others can find and follow you.

08 October 2009

Seeing Cultural DifferencesCognitive science views culture as the combined mental maps (or schemas) built up through people's shared lives. Under this view cross-cultural interactions are a kind of collaborative, mutual learning experience. Each experience involves a learning or exchanging of ideas and maybe even social norms for both parties but it isn't a direct transfer. They are filtered by personal experiences, assumptions, taboos and world-views.

So how do you handle cultural differences that arise?

Hey Hey! We have a problem!One example of this came up recently when Harry Connick Jnr was judging a Red Faces competition on a special comeback episode of "Hey Hey It's Saturday!" that involved a group of gentlemen (of Indian descent) with black make-up on their faces doing a terrible impersonation of the Jackson Five.

Bloggers, journalists and talk-back hosts have gone to town with their own versions of what happened, and whether it is defined as racist or not (both in Australia and the USA). You can read a few here, and the comments on this post give an idea of the American response.

One of the cultural learning mechanisms is the taboo. A topic that should be avoided if possible, or in the least approached with great sensitivity. Cultural groups not only develop different taboos (to cope with different shared traumas of their past), but they transfer these taboos in different ways.

Many Australians don't understand either the depth of racism against African-Americans in the USA, nor how recently it was still considered normal. You get a sense of of it in the movie "Remember the Titans", but a good percentage of people Down Under think racism died out soon after the American Civil War. To cope with this, several extremely strong taboos have emerged including the use of the "N" word and the practice of "Black-faced" entertainers.

The comment on this blog by toujoursdan who has lived in both New Zealand and the USA captures my thoughts nicely.

The Curse of KnowledgeThe "curse of knowledge" is a concept from Chip Heaths book Made to Stick which basically states that when we know something, it becomes hard for us to imagine not knowing it. This makes us bad communicators because we can't imagine others not knowing what we know either.

On "Hey Hey!" Harry took strong offense at such a taboo being played out and apparently enjoyed by the audience. Some accused him of being too politically correct, however from his culture, this was a truly offensive act and his response was proportionate and in fact I think he conducted himself with a level of dignity considering how he must have been feeling.

The "Jackson Jive" and also the shows producers had failed to take into account Harry's cultural background by allowing the act to go ahead. The Doctors, who tried to apologise afterward once they realised the offence, seem to have been unaware of their act being part of such a strong taboo.

On the other hand, Harry (and many of the US-based bloggers) seem also to have succumbed to the curse of knowledge.

They seem to consider that since it is such a powerful taboo for them then everyone in the world would know about it, and

They seem unaware of other cultures methods of transferring taboos.

The concept of the "Red Faces" segment is not a talent show (as this post suggests) but an invitation to do live skits that are socially embarrassing - thus the name. The results are often amusing to Australians not because of the content, but because they are things that aren't normally done in public. In this way, the skits actually act as a subtle social mechanism for discouraging these sorts of behaviour in normal life.

Many Australians commenting on talk-back radio today about the subject suffered the same problem, saying (from their point of view) it was inoffensive and that Harry should "lighten up" or be less politically correct.

Respect is the KeyCultural misunderstandings like this happen all the time. The term Culture Clash is frequently used, especially in the business world where negotiations can break down over what seem to be small differences in opinion to one of the parties.

The key is Respect. Starting with an understanding that other people have different taboos and world-views helps us not be so shocked by their comments or behaviour and allows us time to find understanding and hopefully communicate our discomfort without damaging the relationship. Cultures should be seen as different, not better or one more right than another, just different.

Some say that respect must be earned. Here I tend to disagree. Trust is earned, but respect is something we bring to the table ourselves regardless of the other party. Our ability to constrain our offence and keep the lines of communication open will determine how well we interact with those of different cultural backgrounds, be it another country, a different company or the sports club down the road. Remember, the handling of the offence is a learning experience for those involved and handled well it can challenge false taboos or increase the awareness of useful ones.

All good and well. As for Daryl trying to handle such a difficult situation live in front of millions of viewers while keeping things light and funny, I take my hat off to him. I hope you do half as well next time your business negotiations run into foul weather.

About me

I am a Knowledge Management Consultant and also Facilitate the Knowledge Management Roundtable for SIRF. I help companies with expertise identification & mgt, collaboration, teamwork and knowledge systems to improve an organisation's performance and resilience to change.
I have completed a Masters thesis on Wiki use in Small to Medium Enterprises through the University of South Australia.